


time forever favors the young

by pyrrhas



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: F/F, Pre-Canon, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 15:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6121692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrrhas/pseuds/pyrrhas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall Lynch’s funeral service was, predictably, tortuous and long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	time forever favors the young

**Author's Note:**

> this is based off the raven girls project on tumblr--with trans girl gansey and girl ronan bc i really like that idea. there are no other excuses for this. anyway.

Niall Lynch’s funeral service was, predictably, tortuous and long. Since Gansey was in the front row, with all eyes on her because she was sitting next to the family, she could do nothing but listen. There was a lot of Latin and incense, hymns sung and scriptures read. All typical of a Catholic funeral mass. 

Gansey found that she was more of a clinical observer than anything. She stood when she was supposed to, kneeled when the time came, and sang when the rest of the congregation did. After her own brush with death, she found funerals pointless for the dead. They were, as the saying went, far more for the living. 

Beside her, Ronan did not even bother to go through the motions. She sat, silent, staring at the front of the church like the angels and crosses at the altar could tell her why her father had died. Her face was hard enough that Gansey felt like if she touched it, Rona’s face would shatter beneath her hands. 

Declan kept looking at Ronan out of the corner of her eye--she was the one who had been forced to plan the funeral and burial of their father, since their mother was in a coma--but could say and do nothing to correct Ronan’s behavior. Instead she looked at Gansey, as though she could do something to help her with Ronan. 

Gansey couldn’t. She knew because she had tried. Ronan resisted every attempt, and Gansey had decided to let Ronan’s grief take on whatever shape she felt fit her best, at least for the time being. Her father had died only two weeks ago, after all. 

When the funeral was finally, blessedly, over, Ronan finally stood up and walked out. Her expression did not change while Niall Lynch was buried, except that she kept her gaze at the ground instead of holy things. 

There was to be a meal after the ceremony, at the priest’s house, since there was no one else. Ronan walked into the house and straight into the bathroom. It was the first time that she had left Gansey’s side all day--Gansey hadn’t wanted to sit with the family, but Ronan had silently insisted, grabbing Gansey’s sleeve without saying a word, and Gansey couldn’t bear to walk away. 

Gansey stood with Declan and helped set up tables and chairs, but eventually Ronan’s absence began to become worrying. Gansey went to the bathroom, and her heart stopped when she heard electric buzzing. 

All of the things this sound could mean ran through Gansey’s mind with horrific speed. Without hesitating, Gansey opened the door, which was unlocked like Ronan wanted to be found, and saw Ronan standing there with an electric razor in her hand and a huge chunk of her hair on the floor. 

Ronan’s hair had been beautiful; there was no other way to describe it. Gansey had always been jealous of it, her own plain brown hair nothing compared to Ronan’s dark curls. When the light shone on it just right, Ronan’s hair burned red. She had never cut her hair before and so it fell in perfect ringlets down to her waist. 

And now a huge section of it had just been shaved off. 

When Ronan noticed Gansey in the mirror she had smiled. It was a smile that Gansey didn’t recognize on Ronan’s face yet, though she would. Her mouth was too sharp to be familiar, her eyes burning. She was smiling like she was begging to be destroyed.

Gansey was not going to help her with that. 

But because Gansey was a good friend, she reached out a hand. “Here,” Gansey said, “the back of your head is uneven because you can’t reach. Let me help you.” 

When Ronan handed Gansey the razor, she knew there was no coming back from this.


End file.
